Three bottles are enough to start

A day scent, a night scent, and one that does not smell like anyone else you know.

Most people build a fragrance collection backwards: they buy what is trending, wear it twice, and repeat. Three bottles, chosen properly, will cover a year.

A collection of fifteen bottles you never finish is not a collection. It is indecision with a shelf.

One for the day

Something clean and inoffensive that works in an office, in traffic and at a lunch. Fresh or lightly citrus, moderate sillage, nothing anyone has to comment on.

One for the night

Warm, heavy, deliberate. This is where vanilla, tobacco and amber earn their place, and where you can afford to be noticed.

One that is only yours

The third bottle should be the one nobody around you wears. Unusual does not mean difficult: a fruit and oud, a rum floral, something with an edge that makes people ask.